Anyone use it? The whole no-fee thing seems a little too good to be true. Do you link a bank account? If not, how do you do anything with the money - just send to individuals who also have Circle accounts?

I've been using Circle since May, also through Prolific. So far no problems, no fees, no issues. I linked It to my debit card and it automatically deposits in my bank account. It is slower than Paypal or Venmo - might take a couple of days - but it works fine to cash out Prolific.

@Dusty Dog, I like Prolific a lot. There are relatively few surveys/studies available but they are high quality and pay well. The site works really well. I tried a bunch of sites like Amazon Turk and various survey sites, and this is the one I stuck with. You won't earn a ton just because there aren't many studies to sign up for, but it's good if you have ten minutes to kill here or there and want to earn a buck or two instead of scrolling on Facebook. It has very user friendly features, like telling you the actual time people are needing to take a study, telling you how it works out as an hourly rate, etc. Like instead of saying you'll get fifty cents to take a study of unknown length, it will say you will get fifty cents to take a study that users spent an average of four minutes on, which works out to however-much per hour. Makes it easy to see which ones are worth doing.

Dusty Dog, I like it, too. I've even seen some researchers who I know by reputation.

DS, any worries about security with that debit card? I'm thinking of setting up an account just for this because I don't know that I want to link my primary bank account. I linked it to Vanguard, sure, but that seems like a different beast than some startup.

I'm not too worried... Circle has been around a few years, is affiliated with some big names (banks etc) and they say the security is up to snuff... At some point you're throwing the dice and hoping you don't get hacked with virtually any website or financial service these days, but it seems as safe as Venmo or PayPal or whatever else you might use. You can put a PIN on the app or use two factor authorization if you're worried about your phone being stolen.

Update: I opened a new checking account with a minimal amount of money in it for any and all Internet companies (ie - I'll change the account linked to my >10 year old Paypal account to it, as well). Asked advice while at my bank and the manager pointed me to a good no-fee option; I'll have to park $500 there, but that's all, and I'm willing to sacrifice any gains on $500 for peace of mind. I do keep more money in my regular checking than many here, probably - a few thousand - and I definitely don't want any surpises wherein things bounce, either.